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These are my thoughts throughout the game. The first stage was the race for Maia... the planet at the centre of the Galaxy.

20/03/2010 02:30
I login to find the game has been running for about 6 hours. Damn me playing Dawn of War this evening.
My closest rivals look to be PostScript and Wondwi. I toy with sending them some idle threats, but decide to leave it for now.
I send 5 ships rimwards to Arkab and 5 ships hubwards to Kaus. I hope they are good planets though I won't know until tomorrow evening.
Boylee looks to be as far away from me as anyone, so I ping him a mail suggesting some tech trading.
That reminds me.. tech... i've got 6 hours of weapon research under the belt, but it's kind of useless for now. No one can get near anyone else. I swap to speed in the hope of colonising a bit faster.
On a whim I upgrade my economy on Sarin (my start planet) which should pay off after 5 days and also industry just for the hell of it.
Time for bed.

20/03/2010 11:00
Rudely woken up by work... lets check NP.
Ships still en route.
Boylee appears to have read my mail but hasn't responded... is this the first sign of treachery? (Note, he had responded, i'd just not figured the mail system out at this point!)
Mails pinged to his neighbours Jeeva and Seedy George offering tech trades.
Awesome-o appears to have a mutiny on his ships. I graciously offer some words of advice on how to put the mutinous scum down and get those ships moving.
Unsure what type of alien i am. It looks like a tree root from hell...
Cunning plan to screw with Postscript hatched... a 3rd fleet has been sent on a deep space misson hubwards with a plan to cut into Posts spiral in the middle of next week. If he's not researching ship speed I may be able to cut his expansion off.

15:20
Darn it... those people who actually started on time have made planetfall. The Sero has taken an early leed. Fletch has called for a galaxy wide jihad to smite him down... he may be serious.. it's hard to tell.

20:00
Noticed that apart from awesome-o i'm probably in last place at the moment. Have pinged a mail to awesome-o offering speed research for scanning or range as we both need to catch up.
Also just noticed Seedy George weapon skill has gone up. I think he pumped science early, which can be economically crippling.
Post script scan range has increased... also think he pumped science early
3agle as well scan range pumped... science pumped too.
No indication that anyone's traded yet.

23:10
First worlds for me conquered. Have put a sci station and economics building up. It's wiped me out til payday but I should have faster ships around midday tomorrow. Not much else to do at this stage.

21/03/2010 11:45
Speed research almost complete. Frustratingly it seems Wondwi, one of my neighbours has already completed the speed upgrade.
Fletch has boasted that his new planets are valued in the 60's. This seems high. My home planet is 50 and the two newest are in the 30's. Is he talking bollocks? Maybe... maybe not.
Boylee has high economy so have suggested selling Speed increase to him for $75. Not sure if this is a bargain but if he goes for it my economy is back on even keel.
Also offered to sell the tech to Awesome-o and Damnation. Mainly because they are lagging at the moment and have high economy so they might be willing to go for it.

15:16
Aaaaaggghhhh!! Just realised my rimwards exploration fleet will not have the jump range to make it's next but one planet. Switched to jump range research as no one appears to have it yet. It will take 48 hours to research at current science levels which will leave the fleet kicking it's heels for a day. Damn Damn Damn. Hopefully one of my potential trading partners will take the offer otherwise I can't upgrade science for over 24 hours if I don't spend much else

19:40
Seedy George goes for a weapon tech trade for my engines. This could be a workable long term agreement.

22/03/2010 19:19
Most NPing was done from office today. My early ship speed advantage over all but Wondwi has paid off. I am one of 5 people to have 8 planets putting me nicely competitive without being overly flashy. Much better than being in 11th out of 12.

Jeeva mentioned something that should have been obvious, but i'd totally missed. The stars are getting uniformly better the closer you get to the centre of the galaxy. By that logic, Maia, in the middle should be Risa esque. The Sero has upgraded his jump range. I offer a trade that he seems amenable to but can't happen until next payday.

I got finished researching sensor tech 2 at lunchtime. I want jump engines, but don't want to waste time researching them if I can get them off of The Sero tomorrow evening. Hopefully he's not just stringing me along. Went to research speed again. Less important now the galaxy is filling up, but useful if I need to do fleet countermoves.

Opened dialogue with neighbour PostScript. All thoughts of messing with him gone for now, as he seems the lesser threat compared to overachieving neighbour Wondwi. Technology swap with Postscript I give him level 2 engines, and he gives me level 3 sensors. A pretty decent trade for both sides I thought. Also proposed non aggression pact until 1st April. Let's see if it holds...

Accidently insulted Hawk by calling him a Cyclops... the picture was small!!
Have realised that Industry and Science buildings pay off right away, whereas economy buildings only pay off at paytime (about 17:35 daily) <Note- This seemed to creep... galactic day appears to be 24 hours and 10 mins>. Have planned to not upgrade economy until 17:00ish so as to disguise my economic strength. Plan is to pump science to level 3 tomorrow. No one's gone above 2 as yet.

22:50
Not much I can do now until payday tomorrow. Only real worry at the moment is that Wondwi may try and cut into my spiral. I should have scanners on him in about 90 minutes so will know for certain. Also think a combat fleet needs to be brought to the middle. My patrol fleet arrives back at Sarin around 1pm tomorrow. I'll load it with ships and head hubwards. I just hope i've not left it too late.

23/03/2010 00:26
Seriously mulling a hit on Wondwi at Bunda. My intel shows he can't defend it, though worst case scenario he wipes my hubwards fleet down to 1 ship. It would hurt his science production. Main problem is his advance fleet of 5 ships would still be intact, and my main force probably couldn't reinforce before he hit me back.

Hmmm decided to give it a miss. I hope it's not a mistake. The Sero is Wondwi's neighbour on the other side, so i've sent a galactic dispatch tentatively proposing a joint venture to carve Wondwi up a bit in the next few days. With Post Script hopefully adhering to our non aggression pact (though I will be keeping an eye on him) which I have no intention of breaking for now, Wondwi is the logical first victim.

Beginning to think that economic expansion would be better served on my spinwards stars. Yes, they're not as good as the hubwards ones but they're a lot less vulnerable to a snatch and grab.

01:20
After mulling over the hit on Wondwi I decided fuck it.. lets roll. Only to have my stupid fleet go into hyperspace to the next planet in my spiral just before I could redirect them. Wondwi, that was one close escape!

19:34
Wondwi is just a huge fucking tease.

He's slapped up another science station and an industrial plant within range of my scout fleet. With his current weapons tech i'd knock it out. However if he techs up one level in weapons I think he'd wipe my fleet out with no damage to himself. I don't think I can get a fleet there before he churns out one ship and that's all he would need. So many ifs and buts.

I've got improved jump range on my ships which means my core fleet can hit Wondwi's worlds, unfortunately scanners cant quite reach. If I act on Wondwi now, he will see it. However he has neglected his scanners, so a deep hit could work.

Plan is to try and beg some scanners from Postscript and weapons from Seedy George.
The Sero looks trustworthy, but possibly about to get fekced up! <Boy was I wrong about that... on all counts>

21:10
Caught postscript on IM. Had a big chat about ways to shaft Wondwi. He's sent me his scanners, in return for engines tomorrow. I've offered to hit Wondi's rimwards planets. I haven't decided whether or not I actually will as annoyingly scanners still don't quite reach his homeworld.

The key breakthrough though is Postscript has 9 ships within striking distance of Wondwi's science station. I've fed PS some intel which he will be able to confirm when he gets his next planet around 1am. If Wondwi strikes for Maia then PS will knock out his science base. His only hope is NOT to go for Maia and start entrenching. I move my scout fleet round the spiral in the hope that Wondwi just assumes it's business as usual. If he goes for Maia i'm pretty sure no one can stop him. I'm hoping that's what he's focusing on.
This is some pretty machiavellien shit right here!

23:30
Wheels within wheels. I think i've got an arrangement with Seedy George for weapons tech. It seems reasonable. I think the policy of not being stingy on my trades, but trading with many people is paying off.
I am eager to see whether Wondwi goes for Maia but still about 90 mins away.

24/03/2010 00:40
He's spooling up for Maia. I'm so excited. I've passed the info to Postscript. If Wondwi jumps for Maia then Postscript has him by the balls!